The All Blacks Stroll Through Sending The Irish Home

He ruled Ireland left-wing Jacob Stockdale had deliberately knocked on attempting an interception.

It appeared a harsh call with Stockdale a master of picking off opposition passes and it could be argued the speedster should have held on to the ball. 

Just 10 minutes later the All Blacks increased their lead, New Zealand bagged their first try with scrum-half Aaron Smith going over following sustained pressure.

Mo’unga added the conversion and it was already looking a tall order for Ireland as the early scoring took New Zealand 10-0 up.

The All Blacks were applying relentless pressure and forced Ireland into errors when on 17 minutes, Smith nipped in for his second try following an attack that saw left-wing George Bridge beat a number of would-be tacklers to make it 17-0 early on.

10 minutes later on the 30-minute mark, New Zealand increased their advantage when Johnny Sexton attempted to force a pass and the ball broke loose for the All Blacks. They hacked on and arch-poacher Beauden Barrett cruised up to pick up the ball and score. Mo’unga went wide with the conversion attempt making the score 22-0. Ireland made just one serious visit to the New Zealand 22 during a one-sided first half.

New Zealand piled on the pressure early in the second half as Ireland continued to miss tackles. they bagged a fourth try following a scrum 7m from the Ireland line with hooker Codie Taylor the man to eventually go over for Mo’unga to convert making it 29-0.

61 minutes saw the game turn into a real rout and an all black day for Irish rugby with New Zealand substitute Matt Todd touching down for their fifth try to make it 34-0.

Henshaw responded seconds later by powering over from a close-range for Ireland, No.8 CJ Stander having picked up and ran diagonally before supplying a short pass.

Carbery converted but it was too little, too late.

Normal service was resumed as the All Blacks scored a sixth try with dangerous left-wing George Bridge scoring but then just afterwards Ireland were awarded a penalty try with Todd being sin-binned by referee Nigel Owens for being off-side to prevent the ball being grounded against the padding at the base of an upright making it 44-14.

New Zealand added more points just before the end that made it 18 World Cup victories in a row as they subjected Ireland to a record tournament defeat. Final score 46-14.